


Home Ground

by ABitNotGood (EggsyUnwin)



Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fix-It, M/M, Post-Movie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-07-06
Packaged: 2018-03-14 20:16:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3424166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EggsyUnwin/pseuds/ABitNotGood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin had said very little about what would happen now. </p>
<p>The world had nearly fallen apart and, thanks to three well-dressed people on a small plane, the world had stopped half way through its crumbling. </p>
<p>But a lot of pieces had fallen through the gaps.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Merlin reported good landing conditions through the overhead. Roxy, still tense, sunk back into the plane's crisp upholstery. 

“Sleep,” her eyes were closed but her tone was sharp.

“Nah,” Eggsy turned to see London's lights swarming below them as they neared the mansion. “Nearly there now.” 

“I”m exhausted so you must be.” She kept her eyes closed. “You need to sleep if you want to be ready for the clean up. Personally, right now, I want to go straight home when we touch down.”

“And where's home exactly, Rox?”

She opened her eyes and turned to him quickly. Yeah, of course he could go back to his mum and sister tonight but not in the suit, not knowing what he knew, not right now. They wouldn't understand and they wouldn't be ready to try to. He needed someone who he could look at and know they were looking back at him right now, despite the bullet holes in the expensive tailor fitted armour. He tried to keep his face blank and hide his worries. 

Home was meant to mean a great deal of things and a great deal of people seemed to take that for granted. He knew she didn't, he knew that if anyone understood it was probably the two people on this plane with him right now—but that didn't change the fact that he wasn't looking for sympathy or empathy. He didn't want her to try and understand him or appease him. He just wanted clarification.

Merlin had said very little about what would happen now. 

He thought about his mum, at home with Daisy. They were still alive thanks to the girl sitting across from him and he made a mental note to buy her something ridiculously over the top as a present.  
He thought about Dean and his goons and half-wished some of them might have finished each other off in the ten minutes when Valentine's hand had been on that table. It was a dark thing to hope but also a rather futile one and not something he relied on at all. Eggsy knew the world well by now: he couldn't get that lucky.

He remembered walking away from an eighteen month sentence and into a new life.

Well, he couldn't get that lucky twice.

The world had nearly fallen apart and, thanks to three well-dressed people on a small plane, the world had stopped half way through its crumbling. A lot of pieces had fallen away though: there were plenty of holes to repair. A space at the head of the Round Table. A spare seat just to the right. 

Galahad. 

Harry. 

Eggsy sat up straight and did up his seatbelt. Roxy stared in disbelief.

“What? We're landing, ain't we?”

“Yeah, I think we are,” she eyed him carefully but he pretended not to notice. “I think Merlin will want us to stay at headquarters for a while,” she said, slowly, “we'll be need to help sort things out. Probably best if we stick as close by as possible.”

He shrugged. “Whatever, Rox.”

“Eggsy, what you did in there—”

“You shot a fucking satellite in a one woman rescue mission, floating on the edge of the atmosphere, terrified of heights. What you did was bloody amazing. You saved the world.”

“We saved the world.”

A pointed cough came from the cabin.

“And some old geezer helped!” Eggsy shouted.

Merlin swore at him over the intercom but at least he sounded amused. They were all running on adrenaline still. 

The clean-up team had reached Valentine's base before Eggsy and Merlin could unlock all of the doors but fortunately after Eggsy's 'royal diversion' as Merlin had so eloquently put it. 

Princess Tilde was air lifted out by Scandinavian forces before they left, already talking policy and damage control with some armed adviser. She was probably back to ruling her country now with a firm but fair hand. 

The jet hovered as it lost altitude, touching down smoothly inside the Kingsman base. Eggsy stifled a yawn. 

“A Kingsman,” Merlin said, emerging from the pilot's cabin, “does not yawn until he's finished the mission's paperwork.”

“You're fucking making this up now.”

Roxy grinned and Merlin raised a single eyebrow. “I'm deadly serious.” Her smile dropped.  
Merlin's face was stern but otherwise unreadable, he looked between the two of them—

And winked.

There were two tall men in bespoke suits waiting for them outside the conference room. The blond man eyed Eggsy warily, appraising his suit and glasses which he had yet to take off. The other man was smiling fondly at Roxy. It was Percival, Eggsy remembered belatedly, her sponsor. Roxy stepped forwards quickly and shook his hand, almost glowing.

“Well done, Lancelot.” Percival smiled at her then turned and nodded to Eggsy, extending the compliment. 

Despite the relative tameness of the greeting, Eggsy felt something twist in his stomach at the lack of a certain dark haired man to meet him. 

Roxy, as if sensing his discomfort—and darn it, of course she could, he would've believed she was psychic by this point, it would explain a lot—took a small step back into line with him and Merlin.

“Percival, Gawain,” Merlin acknowledge the men who nodded in reply. 

“Merlin,” Gawain stepped forwards, “there's something you need to know.”

Merlin huffed. “The body count's already in the millions and we have the clean-up from hell on our hands. We're missing an Arthur and a Galahad and possibly more with no immediate time for training replacements. If there were just one thing to tell me then I'd be booking a holiday. There's a Magna Carta of things I need to bloody know.” 

“It's more immediate than that,” Percival looked to Eggsy as he said this and Eggsy felt something shift. That look wasn't right. “We aren't down two places.”

“What the hell's goin on?”

“Eggsy, I'll handle this,” Merlin said. He turned to Percival, “What the hell is going on?”

Gawain smirked but Percival simply raised his chin. “We deployed someone to Kentucky to retrieve the body.” 

Eggsy went cold, unwanted images swarming his mind of the church, Valentine, the gun, Harry, Harry...

“And?”

“We couldn't find Galahad in the morgue,” Gawain said, “but we did find him in the hospital.”

“He's going to need time, but it isn't over.” Percival looked back to Eggsy, meeting his eyes: “Harry's alive.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry Hart wakes up and the world is not as he left it.

It was a grey Friday in London, masquerading as summer, and Harry Hart opened his eyes. 

Immediately he knew where he was, even as his senses were still slipping back to him. He pressed the call button near his hand and noticed he could only see out of one eye. 

"Vexing," he mumbled - it came out more a string of sounds. 

His voice was underused and aching. He wondered how long he had been out. 

The door to the makeshift hospital room opened slowly revealing the nervous face of one of Harry's oldest friends. 

"You're awake," Merlin said, sounding slightly too surprised. Merlin was already pouring water, giving him time, and slowly Harry started to remember Richmond Valentine. 

"No, Harry." Merlin was next to him before he managed to get out of bed. "You need to stay here." 

"Valentine--"

He was embarrassed at his own weak voice but now was not the time for such personal matters. Valentine was a delusional murderous genius and needed to be stopped. 

"Valentine is sorted. In fact," Merlin said, "he's rather dead. Now Harry...I don't know how much you recall, but you were shot."

"I know I was bloody shot," he rasped. "I remember - the church." 

"Valentine wanted to do that on a worldwide scale. Very nearly succeeded. He had Arthur in on it." 

Harry's eyes shot up. Merlin stared at him steadily. 

"I regret that I have to tell you this right now."

Harry shook his head. "I - suspected. How did you -? How was he - ?" 

"He tried to poison Ga - Eggsy. Eggsy poisoned him instead." Merlin said the second sentence quickly, seeing Harry's face pale. 

"Eggsy," Harry nodded. He squeezed his eyes tight shut and felt a shudder of intense pain in his right. "Is that eye gone for good?" 

"For now," Merlin's lips curved upwards. "Kingsman technology is known for advancing rather quicker than the NHS though." 

Harry laughed then froze. "Fuck. He shot me in the head. How long have I been out?" 

"A few months. Five months on Sunday to be precise." 

Harry slumped back into the hospital pillow. 

"Sorry," Merlin added. "A few things have changed around here in that time too. There was a lot to do after V-day." 

"Who stopped it?" 

"Lancelot and Galahad." 

"I was comatose for most of it, I hardly count as a victor in this instance, Merlin." 

"Ah. Well I didn't mean you, did I Arthur?" 

Harry froze. He wondered momentarily if whatever painkillers he was on would stop him from punching his friend in the face. "No."

Merlin raised his hands in an over dramatic shrug. 

"No. I will not be relegated to managing the rabble and appeasing politicians." 

"Once your recovery was certain, there was a consensus vote. The Knights have already spoken." 

He wanted to shout but didn't have the voice. Instead he sighed. "Is my replacement at least on par? I don't want anyone smearing the name of Galahad." 

"That one is up to you to judge." 

Harry Hart watched Merlin closely and got stuck somewhere between an exclamation and a sigh. "Oh bugger, it's Eggsy, isn't it?" 

"I let him try the suit for V-day and he never wanted to give it back." 

Harry knew that was an oversimplification bordering on a lie but could not muster the energy to call Merlin out on it. 

"To begin with - we thought you were dead, Harry. Eggsy was - not OK." 

"Oh." 

"Yes." 

"Well. I'm not dead." 

"I can see that," Merlin allowed himself a small smirk. "I've let the Knights know. Galahad is on his way back from a mission in Greece. Lancelot and Percival got back an hour ago and are eager to wish you well. And Gawain is outside the door waiting for me to let him in." 

"NoI'mnot!" Came a muffled shout from the door. 

Merlin pressed a button and the door opened. Gawain managed to look dignified and gentlemanly as he half fell into the room, and Harry wanted to applaud him. 

"Glad you're awake, Your Majesty." 

"Piss off." 

Gawain laughed and Harry felt a little less ill. Everything seemed more familiar all of a sudden. It was as if the last five months of sleep were slowly being shed like a murky film. 

"Your new recruit's doing well," Gawain continued unaffected, speaking directly to Harry and his bandaged face which must have looked quite a sight. "He really suits the suit, if you know what I mean."

Harry nearly choked on his water. Merlin patted him absentmindedly, like a dog. 

"As the Merlin to your Arthur it's my job to advice you to ignore half of what Gawain says. Perhaps," Merlin turned to Gawain, "you could inform the other Knights of Arthur's improved condition." 

Gawain nodded and offered a small bow that only seemed half mocking. "My liege." 

"That was disconcerting," Harry said once he was gone. 

"Gawain's always disconcerting. It helps that he's also bloody good at this job. He's been invaluable in acclimatising Lancelot and Galahad. I've been a little busy acting as interim Arthur and overseeing a complete upheaval of a decent percentage of the world's governing bodies." 

"Pardon?" 

"You recall Dr Arnold's microchip? Well, a substantial portion of the world's leaders also accepted them. And it became...prudent for myself to activate all those chips during the removal of Valentine." 

Harry closed his eyes, ignoring the momentary pain, and tried to rectify himself to living in this new world. He had woken from a coma and the world was not as it had been. 

Suddenly the hospital room's door opened again, without a knock or warning. 

For a minute Harry didn't recognise him, and strangely saw parts of himself in the stance of the man, the suit, the umbrella - 

But then some emotion crushed the other man and he was once again standing like Eggsy Unwin. 

It was a dual vision. The man before him both was and wasn't what he had expected. This was Eggsy, but it was also Galahad. And Gawain had been right about the suit. 

"Harry?" Eggsy asked. 

Harry Hart had woken up after five months, and the world was not as he expected it to be. But, Harry had never been happier to be proved wrong.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm [here](http://abit-notgood.tumblr.com/) on tumblr - hope you enjoyed!


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